Okay that’s a bit of a stretch but if you could see what budgies see – not so much.

A couple weeks ago we talked about not fully understanding the effects of ultraviolet lighting on our birds. Something that not a lot of us including myself fully understand.

Leave it to NASA to set the record straight on the correlation between parrots and the center of our galaxy. Admitted science geek that I am, lots of interesting content crosses my desktop daily.

Rummaging through the archives of Science Magazine there’s an article from January 2002 entitled ”Fluorescent Signaling in Parrots” by Katherine Arnold At the University of Glasgow.

About a week later in the Journal of Nature you’ll find reports on the fluorescence that has been seen in the Galactic Center in an article by astronomer Q Daniel Wayne of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

The first article explains how ultraviolet light is absorbed by budgies (as well as other parrots) feathers on the crown and the cheeks and then the light gets re-emitted – as yellow light which is a longer wavelength.

Basically what Ms. Arnold found was that both boy and girl budgies used the fluorescence of birds of the opposite sex and their glowing feathers that fluoresced in a light spectrum range that neither you nor I can see as an indicator for the quality of a possible mate.

Going back to the second story the geeky science astronomer guys and gals using pics that mere mortals have no access to because they have the Chandra X-ray Observatory to play with and made really cool images of the Milky Way Check it out!

This Chandra image exposes a wealth of exotic objects and high-energy features at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. In this new and deep image from Chandra, red represents lower-energy X-rays, green shows the medium range, and blue indicates the higher-energy X-rays.

Hundreds of small dots show emission from material around black holes, neutron stars and white dwarfs. A supermassive black hole — some four million times more massive the Sun — resides within the bright, blue-white region on the right.

The diffuse X-ray light comes from gas heated to millions of degrees by outflows from the supermassive black hole, winds from giant stars, and stellar explosions.

This 400 by 900 light-year mosaic of several Chandra images of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy reveals hundreds of white dwarf stars, neutron stars, and black holes bathed in an incandescent fog of multimillion-degree gas.

The supermassive black hole at the center of the Galaxy is located inside the bright white patch in the center of the image. The colors indicate X-ray energy bands – red (low), green (medium), and blue (high).

Now that I’ve got you spun around scientifically, what the science guys and gals are saying is, forgetting fluorescence from parrot feathers for a moment, if you look at iron atoms that happen to take up a really big portion of the Milky Way galaxy (see image above), this fluorescence happens when – following x-rays that bump into electrons knocking said electrons out of the insides of the iron atoms which somehow excites the atoms so much so they produce more energy.

fluorescent suits are NOT chick magnets – you’ve been warned Rounding third base here: The atoms calm down emitting a fluorescent x-ray which is a longer wavelength and is basically the same process that causes budgies to glow fluorescently (I think I made that word up) in the eyes of other budgies.

caveat:

Some people are able to reflect the light that lands on them, to take directions or assets or energy and focus it where it needs to be focused. This is a really valuable skill.

Even more valuable, though, is the person who glows in the dark. Not reflecting energy, but creating it. Not redirecting urgencies but generating them. The glow in the dark colleague is able to restart momentum, even when everyone else is ready to give up.

At the other end of the spectrum (ahem) is the black hole. All the energy and all the urgency merely disappears.

Your glow in the dark colleague knows that recharging is eventually necessary, but for now, it’s okay that there’s not a lot of light. The glow is enough. Seth Godin

written by mitch rezmanapproved by catherine tobsing
approved by nora caterino

I sell bird toys – on the face of it it shouldn’t be that hard. Under the hood it’s hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

We’ve had a retail facility burn to the ground. We’ve had another retail facility flood with sewer water because of improper plumbing practices.

We’ve had another facility where the landlord blocked our loading dock with several thousand boxes of documents for months – the loading dock was the only reason we took the space to begin with.

By the middle of the second quarter of 2015 we were out of stock on close to 80 of our top selling SKUs because either the vendors had gone out of business or the food manufacturers couldn’t source the products. That was a 20% revenue hit.

We begin to recover from that when our web host released an operating system that does nothing but damage the website and blocks people from checking out among other things.

I see threads on LinkedIn people talking about selling. I’ve been out in strange neighborhoods knocking on doors till 10 o’clock at night seeking someone that I could pitch my home improvement products to.

I understand headwinds are part of life and must be dealt with to achieve success. Why then am I in receipt of an email and certified letter indicating that I’m about to be sued for using pictures of birds standing on a piece of rope.

I’ve complied with the attorneys for the vendor weeks ago. The pictures are off our website.

Two years ago I did get a formal DMCA Take-Down Notice from Getty images. They found a parakeet on top of an avian scale and the parakeet was part of Getty images stock collection for sale. They demanded $1300.

My first defense was all birds of the same species are identical. Apparently they had heard that before because they said they had some sort of pixel counting matching software thingy so back off.

I had digitally scraped the avian scale image with the parakeet from the vendor’s website a common practice in e-commerce. I forwarded the information to the vendor who admitted that their webmaster had in fact Photoshopped the bird onto the perch (you’ve been warned) and promptly paid the $1300 “fee”.

That is how I benchmark the value of a royalty-free income producing image.

Here’s what we’re going to do now Bonnie Jay. People all over the Internet are going to be sharing your “copyrighted” pictures from Kara’s Facebook page that is selling your nets onto the WindyCityParrot.com Facebook fan page (273,000 likes) because we can – that’s how Facebook works.

I’m going to use those shared images to demonstrate the superiority Aronoico nets – your chief rival. Were going to make videos – and we’re going to ask – 273,000 cage bird keepers across the planet how they feel about your company and your products

We will be having our worker bees post ALL the images of your Original products from Kara’s Facebook Fan page with images of me in between each and every one your images onto our Facebook fan page – The only way to get those pictures off of our Facebook fan page is for you to remove them from Kara’s Facebook fan page.

Almost all of the 43 presidents, from George Washington to President Obama have had at least one pet.

Information is sketchy so we tried to aggregate all the facts we could find about presidential pet bird ownership.

George Washington (1789 -1791) Had Polly the parrot which was actually Martha’s.

Apparently, George was an impulse buyer because he got the parrot from a trading ship having come all the way from the West Indies and had stopped at Mount Vernon.

George didn’t like the bird – and the feeling was mutual.

They kept a close eye on one another when in the same room.

More than a decade later he hired a carpenter to fix the cage of a bird no one can recall. His step step-granddaughter had what people remember as a “green” parrot.

I don’t want to label Martha as a “collector” but history tells us that several parrots lived at the Mount Vernon estate.

In 1802 two years after George’s death, a visitor to the estate noted that there were several species of parrots one of which was a cockatoo a very friendly cockatoo or so the story goes.

Mrs. Washington died soon after the traveler’s visit.

James Madison (1809 -1817) Dolly Madison owned a Macaw that outlived both of them.

When British troops set fire to the presidential residence during the War of 1812, she heroically rescued the parrot as the fire was engulfing the White House.

John Quincy Adams (1825–1829) Louisa Adams, wife of this president, known at the White House for her silkworms, also owned a parrot during her husband’s term.

Andrew Jackson (1829-1837) Pol the African Grey parrot had been bought as a gift for his wife Rachel. Unfortunately, Rachel died, and the President had to take care of Pol himself.

Pol was taught to swear and screamed curse words at his funeral. The African Grey had to be ejected from the funeral ceremony when he started cursing in both English and Spanish, all learned from the president!

President John Tyler (1841-1845) had a canary that died shortly after they tried to pair him with a mate only to discover it, too, was a male.

Zachary Taylor: (1849–1850) Had a canary Named Johnny Ty Not to be confused with the Zachary Taylor American who was the first baseman in the National Baseball Association for the 1874 Baltimore Canaries.

President Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)

One of President Franklin Pierce’s accomplishments while in office was the signing of the Treaty of Kanagawa.

Prior to the treaty, Japan had remained closed to foreigners since 1683, making this trade treaty one of particular importance.

When the treaty was signed, the Japanese graciously bestowed gifts upon U.S. Representative Commodore Matthew Perry to bring back to President Pierce.

Among these gifts were 7 teacup dogs and 2 birds.

James Buchanan (1857–1861) He had a terrible presidency but owned a cool pair of bald eagles given to him as gifts to somehow make up for his lack of a wife (he had an elephant too – must have been a Republican).

Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) We only have historical references that he owned a parrot as well as other pets.

It’s said one of the canaries regularly spent time between one of his cat’s paws (in a good way)

Abraham Lincoln (March 1861 – 1865) Mr. Lincoln was well known for his fondness of animals and would rescue them on a regular basis

Here’s one account: “Oh,” said he, “when I saw him last” (there had been a severe wind storm), “He (Lincoln) had caught two little birds in his hand, which the wind had blown from their nest, and he was hunting for the nest”.

He finally found the nest, and placed the birds, to use his own words, “in the home provided for them by their mother”.

Said he, earnestly, “I could not have slept tonight if I had not given those two little birds to their mother’ Kenneth A. Bernard, Glimpses of Lincoln in the White House, Abraham Lincoln Quarterly, December 1952, p. 168.

Thomas Jefferson (1891 – 1809) Had a Mockingbird (now the Texas state bird) he bought for five shillings from one of the slaves of his father-in-law John Wayles.

Thomas Jefferson and his Mockingbird

In 1803 Jefferson paid $10 and $15 which was the going rate for the price of the “singing Mockingbirds”.

The person he bought them from saying the birds knew American, Scottish, and French tunes and could imitate all the birds of the woods.

He took one of them to France where the bird learned more sounds that added to his American repertoire.

Because the trip to Europe trip took a month the bird learned to imitate the creaking of the ship’s timbers.

Thomas Jefferson thought of Mockingbirds as “superior beings in the form of a bird.”

He had several Mockingbird pets, but his favorite was named “Dick,” a somewhat underwhelming name when compared to the names of his horses and dogs (Cucullin, Fingal, Bergere, Armandy, etc).

TJ cherished Dick “with a peculiar fondness,” and the bird returned his affection.

Dick often flew freely around the room and would perch on Jefferson’s shoulder to eat bits of food from his lips.

When it was time for the afternoon siesta, Dick would hop up the stairs to Jefferson’s bedchamber and literally sing him to sleep. (Monticello.org)

Ulysses S. Grant (1869–1877) Had a parrot – not much else is known

“Grant’s [parrot] was an ill-tempered bird given to the family by Mexican Minister Matias Romero (perhaps as payback for the Mexican War) and quickly pawned off on friends.”

That the parrot did exist is for certain, however, his fate remains unknown.

Grover Cleveland (1885-1889 and 1893-1897) Had several canaries and mockingbirds belonging to Mrs. Frances Cleveland

Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909) The Teddy Roosevelt-era White House was crawling with pets, including roosters and parrots.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr.

with his macaw Eli in the White House conservatory

Once the president wrote to Joel Chandler Harris, author of the Uncle Remus stories, that he wasn’t so keen on his son Ted’s pet macaw a Hyacinth named Eli Yale “Eli is the most gorgeous macaw, with a bill that I think could bite through boilerplate, who crawls all over Ted, and whom I view with dark suspicion.”

I would be remiss in not mentioning Pres. Roosevelt’s great friend and ally Winston Churchill who not only helped end World War II but was a lover and companion to a number of parrots.

.

Mrs. Madison would be seen entering a reception room with her macaw on her shoulder to help engage guests that were a bit introverted.

Unfortunately, none of this has been substantiated. The claims that he had a macaw named Charlie that lived to be 114 have been rejected by the Churchill estate although the bird was very good at spewing anti-Nazi epitaphs.

Lady Soams, Churchill’s daughter Churchill’s daughter does acknowledge that Churchill did have an African gray for about three years which was sold when the family left Chartwell at the start of the war to move to London before her father became England’s Prime Minister.

President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) had several pets, the most notable of course being Old Ike, the tobacco-chewing ram. However, like several Presidents, Wilson also had several songbirds in the White House with him.

Wilson’s Warbler Songbird

Unfortunately, not much is known about Wilson’s birds. Unlike some more famous avian residents such as Jackson’s profanity-speaking parrot, Polly, Wilson’s birds led an unremarkable life.

Or at least, a life that didn’t interest reporters at the time.

President Wilson was responsible for signing into legislation that created the National Park Service, designed to protect the United States’ national parks and monuments.

As these parks are home to several species of bird, one could say he took his love of animals beyond the White House walls and made sure they’d be protected for many years to come.

Warren Harding (1921–23) Had a Canary named Bob

Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929) – Had Nip and Tuck, yellow canaries, Snowflake a white canary, Old Bill a Thrush, Enoch a Goose and a Mockingbird, name unknown.

Former President Coolidge with a parrot

as his wife and Mr. William Wrigley look on

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, (1953-1961) had a parakeet named gabby

John F. Kennedy (1961 – 1963) – Had Robin, a canary, Parakeets named Bluebell (after a famous racehorse) and Marybelle

As a mid 20th century child a.k.a. baby boomer I grew up in what would be called “naïve time”. Let me illustrate.

We had our priorities as a nation in the 1950s. We didn’t allow ourselves to be exposed to things that might hurt us. TV shows like Leave it to Beaver and Ozzie and Harriet supported the notions of the idyllic stay-at-home moms. One thing we’re certainly clueless about was birds and parrots as pets. Actually it wasn’t really until the turn of the 21st century that we began to accept and understand the brilliance and complexity of companion birds.

A ship’s captain has to trust the opinion of the ship’s parrot

especially when talking about cigarettes – right?

Every once in a while I’m asked what it is I do for a living. If it’s a friend, stranger or acquaintance my answer might be a little flippant “I’m the bird toy guy”.

The only thing I could think of looking at this is

“what could she possibly be looking at – hello?”

If I’m at a nerdy networking event my stock answer is “I’m a digital marketer”. That means something like I get asked a bird question and then research cool stuff about birds and push the information to places all over the internet.

You would think someone said

let’s name a cigar line after a parrot – once.

With the bird (ownership) category paling in comparison to the dog and cat category (in retail sales) birds are not really mainstream yet you’d be surprised how many products birds & parrots have shown up “squawking” their merits over the last 2 centuries.

yet marketing many marketing folks and

cartoon artists have felt parrots and cigars are a great match

What this post really highlights is how dumb we’ve been about the use of birds in marketing. Can you imagine the outrage from the bird community if some these ads showed up in today’s media?

parrots apparently were valued for their

opinion of cigarette mildness at one time

I actually get paid to find a lot of both smart and silly stuff about birds. In doing so I’ve accumulated collection of advertising images with of course parrots. Because you’re a bird person, would you be more influenced by a large cockatoo than a sports personality in guiding your purchasing decisions?

Much like sports personalities and advertising there’s not a whole lot of relationship between spokesperson and the product other than compensation. We do know that certain birds out there work for money but the birds in these ads – well I guess they should have unionized early on.

When clicker and stick training really got results

google “peter driben parrot art” for more of these tasty pics

Parrots were used to sell cars in the last century – but why?

The connection between cars and parrots totally eludes me. Parrots come with their own mode of transportation namely “wings”. Perhaps that’s the “lift” car companies were seeking.

And parrots are still being used to sell cars in this century – the question really is

Is a Sulfur crested cockatoo the best way to test Infiniti’s Voice Recognition System? Or do you have to squawk commands at the car for it to work?

not only did parrots sell cars but they sold the stuff you put in cars

you gotta admit this pretty cool whatever it is/does

Food must be trustworthy if it’s named after a parrot

Clearly people in marketing back in the day felt that name and a product after parrot gave it additional credibility.

i rest my case

our cockatiel always asks us about ingredients

before she eats something – not

this takes “Polly want a cracker” to the next level

The creativity of marketing people should never be underestimated especially when it comes to parrots.

they even made a second commercial

I get the whole “Polly wants a cracker thing” but this next commercial for Doritos chips had to of been influenced by a mind altering substance.

what do you do with a trained parrot?

Put him in a Doritos commercial

ok – so this makes sense

this has always been one of my faves

but sewing needles? makes as much sense as cars

who knew parrots were your go to source for cellophane info?

then again this was from a time zoos kept parrots close by leg chains.

The relationship between parrots and alcohol runs deep. We just don’t know why or when it began. We have a small collection of Corby’s “drinking paraphernalia” everything from cocktail pics to bottle pourers to lighting fixtures .

Corby’s used parrots to sell it’s whiskey until they went out of business

part of the Windy City Parrot collection

who drinks gin anymore?

once they stopped using parrots to market it – it got boring

back in the day beer was good for the whole fam damily including pets (is that beer in the goldfish bowl?)

note: parrot beer glass perch – currently out of stock

note 2: time to cut off dad – but no one cares – because the beer taste so damn good

you know this really happens!

what animal than a bird with zygodactyl

feet is better suited to sell human shoes than a parrot?

proof!

If you remember this – you’re old

Harley got it’s marketing (and motorcycles) right – but it took 2 more decades